Fiber stock refining apparatus



Nov. 5, 1957 O. S. HERRINGTON, JR

FIBER STOCK REFINING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1955 ATTORN EY UnitedStates Patent r 2,811,904 FIBER STOCK REFINING APPARATUS Orange S.Herrington, Jr., Ellisville, Miss., assignor; to Masonite Corporation,Laurel, Miss., a corporation of Delaware Application July 20, 1955,Serial No. 523,180

4 Claims. (Cl. 92-27) This invention relates to fiber stock refiningapparatus, and relates more particularly to refining engines of theJordan type.

The present invention constitutes an improvement over the refiningapparatus disclosed in Patent No. 1,775,743 to J. A. Wiener, issuedSeptember 16, 1930. In both inventions, the fiber stock is fed into thelarger end of a refiner similar to the usual Jordan in its constructionbut, in the present invention, the impeller blades are improved overthose of the above referred to patent.

. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide arefining apparatus of the Jordan type, wherein improved impeller meansare provided for greatly increasing the efficiency and life of therefining apparatus and, also, improving the quality of the refinedstock.

Other important objects of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description thereof and from the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation through the apparatus,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional side view of the impeller blades of theapparatus.

In the drawings, the numeral indicates a base adapted to support thefiber refining apparatus 12. Said refining apparatus 12 comprises acasing 14 made up of an intermediate frusto-conical shell 16 havingsecured thereto at its smaller end a passaged section 18 forming adischarge port 20 communicating with the bore of the shell 16 by meansof an opening 22. A passaged section 24 is joined to the larger end ofthe shell 16 through an annular spacing ring 26. Said section 24 isformed with an enlarged intake port 28 opening into the hollow interior30 of said section. The stock admitted into the intake port 28 passesfrom the interior 30 of said section 24 through a central opening 32into the space 34 formed by the annular spacing ring 26.

A plug 36, substantially frusto-conical in shape, is mounted axiallywithin the shell 16 upon shaft 38 adapted to be driven through acoupling 40 and supported in hearing housings 41 and 42 from the base 10in customary manner. Conventional means are provided for longitudinaladjustment of the plug Within the frusto-conical shell as indicatedgenerally at 43.

At the larger end of the plug 36 there is formed a reduced portion 44having a reverse taper 45 to that of the major part of the plug. Thereis thus provided a wedge shaped space 46 between the inner surface ofthe shell 16 and the reduced portion 44 of the plug for facilitating theadmission of stock between the refining surfaces of the plug and shellrespectively.

The refining elements comprise knives 48 and 50 set along the bore ofthe shell 16 and in the plug 36 respectively in the usual manner. Itshould be noted, however, that the knives 50 positioned on the plug 36extend along the surface of the reduced portion 44 as at 52 and areco-extensive with the length of said plug. By virtue of 2,811,904Patented Nov. 5, 1957 ice this construction, the portions 52 of theknives 50 act much in the same manner as the runner blades of a pump toforce the stock between the refining elements.

An impeller 54, comprised of a base plate 55 and radially extendingstraight blades 56 secured to the larger end of the plug 36 by thescrews 57, serves as the main impelling force for causing the stock toflow through the refining engine in a direction reverse to that normallytaken by the stock in the usual Jordan engine. The blades 56 of theimpeller 54 are substantially the width of the annular chamber 46,leaving but a small clearance between the edge of the central opening 32and the outer edge of the blades 56.

.The novel improvement of the present invention comprises the provisionof a recessed portion 58 in each of said impeller blades 56 at the edgethereof which is secured to the plug 36. The recessed portion 58 createsa turbulence in the stock which is outstandingly beneficial inincreasing the useful life of the plug 36 and, as well, results inrefined stock of improved quality.

As stated hereinbefore, the impeller 54 serves as the main impellingforce for causing the stock to fiow through the refining engine. In theprior art refiners, the solid design of the impeller blades caused amajor proportion of stock to be forced between a relatively few of theknives on the plug located most closely adjacent to the impeller blades.As a consequence, the normally sharp edges of the knives which were mostheavily loaded became dull and rounded in a short time. Stock passingthrough the refiner was thus characterized by a progressively greaterlack of refining. Adjustment of the plug in a horizontal direction tosmaller clearance was continuously necessary until the point was reachedwhere improvement was possible only by dressing the dulled knives of theplug. This undesirable condition existed over a period of several years.

It was recently discovered, quite unexpectedly, that the provision of arecess in each of the impeller blades overcomes the undesirablecharacteristics of the prior art refining engines. As the plug isrotated during use, the recessed portion 58 of each impeller blade 56allows a portion of the stock to escape from being immediately forcedthrough the refiner. The turbulence thus created results in the stockbeing evenly disturbed between all of the knives of the machine. Due tothis uniform stock distribution, the brushing action of the fibersagainst each other is greatly enhanced as is the shearing action of theknives.

An outstanding advantage derived from the novel improved impeller bladesof the invention resides in the greatly increased useful life of theplug 36. It has been found that refining engines constructed accordingto the invention may be used continuously for a period of time manytimes greater, before any reconditioning is necessary, than is possiblewith the prior art refiners.

While the size of the recessed portion 58 is not entirely critical,obviously it must be large enough to create the necessary turbulence instock flow. On the other hand, the recessed portion must not be so largeas to either seriously decrease the impelling action of the blades 56 orto weaken the blades to the extent where breakage thereof will occur.Inasmuch as the size of any particular refining engine is dependent onthe capacity desired thereof, it is impossible to attribute anynumerical criterion as to the size of the impeller blade recess.However, it has been found that a recess size of the order of magnitudeof about 10-20% of the impeller blade face area provides exceptionallygood results, with the preferred size being about 15%. The recessedportion 58 has been shown in the drawings as being rectangular in shapealthough it may obviously be rounded or curved, or of any shape whichfunctions satisfactorily.

Asmany apparently widely different embodiments of the invention may bemade without departing from the spirit thereof, it is to be understoodthat the scope of the invention is not to be limited to specificembodiments thereof except as defined in the appendedclaims.

' I claim:

1. A fiber stock refining apparatus comprising a shell having afrusto-conical shaped bore, a frusto-conical shaped plug adjustablymounted in'said bore and having a reversely tapered portion at itslarger end, straight impeller blades secured to the larger end of saidplug and extending radially substantially to the periphery thereof, eachof said impeller blades being recessed at the outermost part of theblade edge, and means for introducing fiber stock at the larger end ofsaid shell for passage through said bore to the smaller end.

2. A fiber stock refining apparatus comprising a shell .having afrusto-conical shaped bore, a frusto-conical 'shaped plug adjustablymounted in said bore and having a reversely tapered portion at itslarger end, straight impeller blades secured to the larger end of saidplug and extending radially substantially to the periphery thereof, eachof said impeller blades being recessed atthe outermost part of the bladeedge which is secured to the plug, and means for introducing fiber stockat the larger end of said shell for passage through said bore to thesmaller end.

3. A fiber stock refining apparatus comprising a shell having afrusto-conical shaped bore, a frusto-conical shaped plug adjustablymounted in said bore and having a reversely tapered portion at itslarger end, straight impeller blades secured to the larger end of saidplug and extending radially substantially to the periphery thereof, eachof said impeller blades recessed at the outermost part of the blade edgewhich is secured to the plug, the area of said recess comprising about10-20% of the blade face area, and means for introducing fiber stock atthe larger end of said shell for passage through said bore to thesmaller end.

4. In a fiber stock refining apparatus comprising a shell having afrusto-conical shaped bore, a frusto-conical shaped plug adjustablymounted in said bore and having a reversely tapered portion at itslarger end, straight impeller blades secured to the larger end of saidplug and extending radially substantially to the periphery thereof, andhaving means for introducing'fiber stock at the larger end of said shellfor passage through said bore to the smaller end, the improvement whichconsists in the provision of a recess at the outermost part of eachblade edge which is secured to the plug, the area of said recesscomprising about 10-20% of the blade face area.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 581,605Mills Apr. 27, 1897 1,467,207 Strattman Sept. 24, 1923 1,730,908 WienerOct. 8, 1929 1,775,743 Wiener Sept. 16, 1930 1,971,335 Benner et a1 Aug.28, 1934 2,294,060 Wiener Aug. 25, 1942 2,694,344 White Nov. 16, 1954

